Picture Books and Crafts: Backyard Bugs & Fingerprint Bugs

I started a series last year called "Preschool Picture Books and Art", but I wanted to start it back up again. I renamed it Picture Books and Crafts since Zeke is no longer in preschool, and our projects are more crafty than artsy. 

We started this cold, rainy weekend with a book from one of our favorite series, "Hello World!" 

Backyard Bugs is a fun board book with simple text and more details for older kids who want them. We read through the book and then went through page by page and made a page full of fingerprint insects!

Zeke did this entire project by himself! I did have a sheet where I would demonstrate what to do, and then he did it on his own. Here is a close-up and description of each bug that we created.

Worm - Zeke used his entire finger for a worm-print. He used yellow ink like in the book and added orange stripes with a marker. We didn't add any eyes since there were none in the book.

Caterpillar - Again Zeke used an entire finger print with yellow ink. He added feet, antenna, and stripes.

Butterfly - Zeke used four orange finger prints for wings, and then added antennae and decorated the wings with a black marker.

Ant - Zeke used brown ink and three finger prints. Then he drew six legs, two antenna, and two eyes.

Ladybug - Zeke made a red thumbprint and then added black dots, antenna, and six legs. 

Cricket - Zeke used brown ink and added legs and antenna.

Grasshopper - Zeke used green ink and made a long body. Then he used a black marker to make legs and antenna.

Spider - Zeke used brown ink for the spider's body and then added eight legs and a mouth.

Dragonfly - Zeke used two pink finger prints and then added four wings with a black marker.

Bumble Bee - Zeke used a yellow finger print, then he drew black stripes, wings, and a head.

This was such a fun little project, and Zeke thought his fingerprint bugs turned out so cute! You could do this with any book on bugs, but the cartoon illustrations made it easier for Zeke to visualize how his bugs should look. 

Have you done this before? Click the image below to see our other projects!

Littles Learning Link Up: ABC Jesus Loves Me: Year One, Week One (with freebie lesson plan)

Zoey is 15 months old now, which is the age I started Tot School with Zeke. I really got excited when I decided to go ahead and do some toddler activities with Zoey, and I love the way ABCJesusLovesMe is free and age appropriate. I did create a 5-day lesson plan (with a few extra activities) that I'm offering for free here - just click below! Here is a breakdown of our week. 

We read the Bible story, sang the songs, and looked at the book all throughout the week, so I'm not going to type that for each day. I'm only going to elaborate on the other activities. 

We did substitute the book "My First 100 Word Book" by Richard Scarry for the My First Word Book, simply because that's what I already owned.

Monday:

The first activity I set out for Zoey was one that I had done for Zeke when he was a bit older. I used a Melissa and Doug wooden tray and had him sort pairs of animals into the compartments. Since Zoey was so much younger, I set one of each animal in the compartment and tried to show her how to match the animals. She didn't get the concept yet, but she did have fun playing with the animals, kissing them, and placing them in and out of the tray.

Later in the day I gave her a large plastic container and some 2-inch black pom-poms. I love this larger size for younger toddlers who still put things in their mouths. She had fun putting them in the container and then dumping it out again. 

We also looked at some circles, especially one of her bath rings. She even said "circle", although it sounded like "kurkle."

Tuesday:

I didn't have any animal stickers or animal crackers, so I printed out some animal clip art for this activity. Zoey colored her ark brown and then I put some glue spots on the ark. Zoey put the different animals on the ark! She liked doing this, especially touching the glue and feeling how sticky it is.

Then she colored her train black. This will be part of a Color Train, with cars of every color.

We talked about "So Big" - I asked her, "How big are you?" and tried to get her to stretch out her arms and say, "So big!" She smiled a lot but she hasn't said "so big" yet.

Wednesday:

We started out water-painting a black circle I cut out from construction paper. Let me tell you - she loved this activity! I've learned to never skip the "simple" things, because they always wind up being a favorite. She did enjoy painting her head and clothes, too, so I was really thankful it was only water. But soon she tore up the soggy circle and tried to eat it, so the activity ended! But it kept her engaged for a good fifteen minutes.

And then I threw some of their stuffed animals into an empty laundry basket so she could play Noah's Ark and take the animals in and out. She loved this, too, and played with the basket off and on for hours. Zeke even got in on the fun!

- They're riding horses -

I was super dreading the Sensory Bin because Zoey is my messy child - but I decided to let her explore it on the porch. It was a little chilly, nearly 50 degrees, but she really enjoyed playing (and she didn’t make a mess at all!). Plus, I’m trying to get her 1000 Hours Outside in this year, so altogether we spent 2 hours outside today! I used Fruity Pebbles since they're small enough for her to eat and rainbow colored to go along with the Noah's Ark theme. I put some Little People animals in there and she had a blast.

Thursday:

I had planned to do the tissue stain craft that is listed in the extra activities for Noah's Ark on the ABCJesusLovesMe website. We laid our tissue on the paper and sprayed with water, but it didn't bleed through! Not sure if it was my tissue or what, but we decided to glue the tissue on the paper. Again, I used a glue stick to make dots for Zoey to place the tissue squares. She enjoyed it but her fingers kept getting sticky and the tissue would ball up in her hands! 

I'm also making her a Color Box each week with objects in that week's color. This week is black - so I included a large black pom-pom, a black horse, a few black cars and trucks, a large plastic ant, a black Batman figure, a black gorilla, and a black domino. Her favorite object was the domino for sure!

The gross motor skill was kicking a ball, and she is so good at kicking! She likes to walk around the yard or house kicking a ball. We joke that she's going to be a soccer player one day!

Friday:

I cut some circles from black construction paper and Zoey made a circle collage! She wanted to use the glue stick, so I let her. She did pretty good considering she's 15 months old! She needed a bit of help putting the circles on the glue spots, but for the most part she did this by herself. She wanted to keep gluing, so I got out the Kwik Stix paint sticks, and she loved those! She did two pages of painting, and then decided to paint her head with them...so we had to put them up. Luckily she didn't put up a fight since I mentioned the word bath, her favorite thing!

While she painted I read her 1, 2, 3 To The Zoo. We also read some of her favorite animal pop-up books!

Peek-A-Boo is a favorite game we play, so we played that some more this week, too.

Your Turn:

Link up any of your posts that are related to your little ones learning! And please visit the other posts in the link-up - that's the point of a link-up, right? We all love interaction! You can use the button above on your blog to help share the link-up with others!

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Weekly Highlights: First Week of 2024

Welcome to my new link-up party - Weekly Highlights! This link-up is for any posts from the past week, and you can link up as many as you'd like from that week. Please be sure to visit the other posts and leave some comments. If you would like, you could use the button below on your blog to help direct others to this link-up!

This is the last week Rod has off of work and the last week the kids have off from school. Monday starts our routine back, and I can't say I'm upset about it. I love having a routine! Zeke is also ready to start kindergarten again. I was planning to start him back this week, but with Rod and the kids home all day, it makes it difficult. I did manage to do Tot School with Zoey though!

MONDAY:

I stayed home and got some things done around the house that have been neglected - a bit of laundry, the floors, and the playroom. We ate leftover today, trying to clean out the refrigerator!

Silas cooked a big breakfast of pineapple pepper jack deer sausage, scrambled eggs, and some homemade bread.

- The Magnatiles are played with every single day -

TUESDAY:

Rod and I took Titus to get some baseball cleats, a new glove, and the pants he will need for this year's junior high baseball season. They start practicing next week. I also got a new phone (an iPhone 14 in lavender - it's beautiful). We ate Chick-Fil-A on the way home. 

Tuesday evening, we went to visit Mikaela and the babies. They had to leave Wednesday morning headed back to South Carolina for Ken's job. Mikaela made tacos for us to eat, and we all said good-bye for a few months. I hate missing so much of Mikenna's life - she just turned three months old and I know she's going to change so much while they're gone. And Daniel is starting to talk so much now! Thank goodness for FaceTime. Zeke and Daniel played together and I got a few good pictures.

WEDNESDAY:

I stayed home today except for a short trip to the Dollar General with Rod to pick up some more tea and diet cokes. It was cold outside, so we kept a fire going in the fireplace all day. I wasn't feeling great and got some body aches. I really worried I was getting the flu again, but I woke up Thursday feeling almost normal. We ate leftovers again, along with some Hawaiian bread that I made in the bread machine, and the fridge is almost cleaned out from the leftovers (thankfully).

- Zoey is a daddy's girl for sure -

THURSDAY:

Zeke has speech on Thursdays, and it's an hour drive there, 45-minute therapy session, and then an hour drive back home. Every week. My mom took Zeke for me this week since I wasn't feeling great. It was nice to have the afternoon at home again. Zeke and Silas went to her house to spend the night, and they went to Cowbody Church with my parents. My dad is the pastor and it just started back up tonight! I made tacos for lunch because they were so good Tuesday night that I wanted some more!

Rod and Titus threw the baseball outside, and Zoey got a few more hours for her 1000 hours challenge! It’s hard when it’s really chilly, but she got 1 hour and 15 minutes today.

FRIDAY:

Today we will finish Zoey's Tot School for the week. Silas and Titus have a 4H Cooking Event that is like the "Chopped" TV show so I will be dropping them off there for a few hours.

I am also trying to figure out which creative project I want to start next. I have a new Bucilla stocking kit to replace my stocking which is falling apart. I also have the Bucilla nativity wreath kit and an ornament kit to complete this year. I think I'm going to start the stocking first.

I need to start back menu planning each week. It's really helpful. Plus I want to save more money this year on groceries. I spent an average of $350 each week on groceries in 2023 (and sometimes closer to $500). Most of that is because I wasn't budgeting, money isn't tight, and I didn't have a game plan. Money isn't tight this year, either, but I still want to be as frugal as I can be with regards to groceries. 

I read my Bible each day this week, and I have been spending more time in prayer in the mornings. I also visited several new blogs this week! I mentioned that I would share one new blog a week - here is one that I'm following now:

Overflowing with Thankfulness

Go check out Jennifer and her blog - she has link-up parties and a new post every day! I added her to my sidebar. 

How was your first week of the New Year?

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Currently: January 2024

I’m linking up today with Jennifer and her Currently link up for the first time! Here is what I’m loving, resolving, looking forward to, doing to stay cozy this winter, and cooking. 

Loving:

I’m loving the fact that my husband had two weeks off for Christmas and New Years. We went to Monroe yesterday (the "big city") to buy Titus some baseball cleats, a new glove, and the game and practice pants he will need. They start baseball practice when school starts back up next week. I also got a new iPhone 14 since my 12 was starting to get glitchy. I’m loving the fact that it has 128 GB of storage compared to the 64 my 12 had. 

First picture with new phone while waiting for ChickFilA

I’m loving that it’s getting cooler outside, and we’ve been able to burn fires in the fireplace. I’m loving that my kids all got a buck this year, and I’m loving my freezer being packed full of processed deer meat! 

The kids with Eli and his 10-point

Resolving:

I made a New Year’s Resolutions post a few days ago, but I have a few new resolutions already! The biggest one is to build more relationships with the people around me. I’ve been so busy the past few years that I haven’t had time to nourish friendships and family relationships the way I’d like to. I’m not sure exactly how that’s going to look, but I do know I’ll be making more phone calls instead of quick texts, and I’d like to have more people over to my home. 

Naps on the couch are the best!

I also resolve to join more linky parties and build more friendships online with my blog! 

Looking Forward To:

Junior High Baseball

Tot School with Zoey

Kindergarten with Zeke

Valentines Banquet at church

Rodeos in the spring for Mercie

New Linky Parties

Lots of warm yummy bread in my bread machine

Doing to Stay Cozy this Winter:

I’ve already mentioned fires in the fireplace, but I also look forward to wearing my new fleece Columbia zip up that Rod got me for Christmas as well as the Columbia fleece button up I bought for myself. I love blankets, and I got the kids all a new blanket for Christmas, so I’m loving seeing them wrapped up in those! 

Cooking:

We cooked fried deer backstrap, black eyed peas, cabbage, broccoli and rice casserole, and cornbread muffins for New Years, and my dad came over to eat and watch college football. 

Titus and his first buck

I also got a bread machine for Christmas, so I’ve been making bread. I made some Hawaiian sweet bread yesterday! 

We process most of our deer meat, but we did send some to the processor to make some breakfast sausage, snack sticks, and pineapple pepperjack sausage (which my husband and kids love). I'm looking forward to cooking with some fresh venison this year.

Mercie and Silas with their bucks.